Throwback Thursdays

On June 5th this year – 2024, it’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since we laid President Ronald Wilson Reagan to rest. In this podcast, we’ll reflect on the ceremonies and speeches celebrating his life and legacy. In his honor, President George W. Bush declared June 11, 2004, a national day of mourning. A ceremony at the Capitol began with tributes from Senator Ted Stevens, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, and Vice President Richard Cheney. Let’s listen to a few excerpts, starting with Senator Ted Stevens.

On Friday, April 26, the Olympic flame for the 2024 Paris games was officially handed over to a delegation from the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee during a ceremony in Athens Greece. The ceremony took place at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens where the modern Olympics were first opened in 1896. At that time, the Olympic flame was passed to the delegation representing the country that will next host the games. And that is, of course, France. But to reach France from Greece, the torch will cross the Mediterranean on board the Belem, the majestic 3-masted ship owned by the Belem Foundation. It will cross the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans as part of the Oceans Relay to reach six French overseas territories: Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Reunion Island. Once in France, the flame will travel to the Lascaux caves, the Alésia archaeological site, the medieval city of Carcassonne, the Palace of Versailles, and many other sites. It will light up many of France's architectural masterpieces, beginning with the world-renowned site of Mont Saint-Michel. It will also visit places of remembrance, such as the Verdun Memorial and the D-Day Landing Beaches. 40 years ago in 1984, the Olympic torch crossed America to reach the West Coast, Los Angeles, for the official games. One of its first stops was Washington, DC where it stopped at the White House. In this podcast, we’ll listen to the President’s wonderful remarks delivered on the South Lawn.

Why should we care about Central America? Today, almost half of the 2.5 million migrants who crossed our southern border in 2023 were from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, or Nicaragua. In this podcast, we’ll talk about those neighbors to the South, and hear what the president said in 1983 and 1984.

On May 8, 1984, the White House honored Harry Truman’s 100th birthday. Sadly, Harry died in 1972 at the age of 88, but Ronald Reagan who had admired, respected, and campaigned for Harry Truman, was staunchly in favor of celebrating this honorable man. His remarks, delivered at the White House with Truman’s daughter Margaret as a special guest, were simply captivating.

President Reagan’s disappointment in and distrust of international organizations is vividly apparent in his radio commentaries from 1975-1980. Today, when we look at the situation in Ukraine, and the tragedies unfolding in Gaza, we can’t help but wonder what, if anything, the organization has accomplished in bringing peace to the world. On March 25, just a month ago, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, in addition to the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and "the urgent need to expand the flow" of aid into Gaza. There were 14 votes in favor with the United States abstaining. As of this writing, despite their demands, the parties involved - Israel and Hamas - have not heeded. It was Dag Hammarskjöld, the tragic second UN secretary general, who said it best. The United Nations, he said, “was created not to lead mankind to heaven but to save humanity from hell”. So in this podcast, we’ll listen to two of Ronald Reagan’s speeches - an excerpt from a 1983 address where his aggressive rhetoric was criticized and a radio address from 1978, both clarify why he believed that the UN, despite its lofty goals, is impotent.

40 years ago, the Russians were still on the march, just like today. Then, of course, it was known as the Soviet Union, and the threat they posed to the United States and Europe was unrelenting and terrifying. European leaders were begging President Reagan to do something, complaining that the presence of SS-20s armed with nuclear warheads felt like the Russians had a gun to their heads. But European leaders were afraid to speak out against the Soviets, publicly, because they were afraid the Russians would cut off their energy as Europe relied on them for natural gas. And the Soviets knew that their power over Western Europe was based on energy. So, President Reagan was determined to define a new path for the American people: one to eliminate the threat of nuclear war for the entire human race. In this podcast, we’ll talk about a dynamic new exhibit at the Reagan Library that combines artifacts and information on President Reagan’s plan to protect America - known as the Strategic Defense Initiative, and actual artifacts from George Lucas’ film series, Star Wars. The exhibit is open now, entitled: Defending America and the Galaxy: SDI and Star Wars. In addition to SDI artifacts, there are Star Wars treasures like a land speeder, a Dykstraflex camera, Princess Leia’s dress, and more fascinating items.

Today, the turmoil and civil war in the country of Haiti dominate the headlines. As of this writing, for three weeks, Haiti’s capital has been trapped in a gory cycle that far exceeds the kidnapping and gang violence for which it was already known. An insurgent league of heavily armed gangs is waging war on the city itself, seeking new territory and targeting police and state institutions. The Dominican Republic has stationed 10,000 soldiers on its border with Haiti. Officials there are worried that chaos in Haiti will send migrants streaming into their country. As a democratic ally, the Dominican Republic was an important and recognized partner in the fight against communism and corruption in the Caribbean. So in April of 1984, President Reagan welcomed President Jorge Blanco to the United States.

At Eureka College, our 40th President participated in almost every sport. No, he wasn’t a candidate for the Olympic team. Ronald Reagan’s football coach Ralph McKinzie said, “Dutch was not an outstanding player but he was a good plugger with a lot of spirit and desire.” Besides football, he went out for the swimming team and became captain. He tried out for track and won his letter in that sport as well. As for basketball, well that was only a high school pursuit, but as President, he was thrilled to invite the basketball teams who excelled during March Madness.

40 years ago, in the spring of 1984, President Reagan spent six days in the People’s Republic of China, visiting Beijing and Shanghai. To ease into the schedule, he was a week getting there and he spent another day and a half in Alaska afterward, meeting once more with Pope John Paul II. It was Ronald Reagan’s first trip to a Communist country and was somewhat strained because of his campaign as Taiwan’s leading political champion in the US. When he was elected, he still believed that the government that had fled to Taiwan in 1949 was the legitimate government of China. It’s believed that Richard Nixon was quite influential with Reagan regarding China, emphasizing its importance as a counterweight to the Soviet Union.

We know that Israel had no better partner/defender/protector than Ronald Reagan. And our 40th president never missed an opportunity to denounce anti-semitism, bigotry, or prejudice. In this era of strident anti-semitism, bigotry, and prejudice occurring in our nation today, we thought we should focus briefly on President Reagan’s campaign against hatred. In 1984, he clarified his beliefs when he was invited to deliver an address at the Young Leadership Conference of the United Jewish Appeal in March 1984.